Touring Toronto and St Rose of Lima

Today we woke up late. We had an amazing sleep at Sean's place. His mattresses were extremely comfortable and perhaps more so with the cosy feel of his place.

We had a languid move to get ready to leave the house. We utilised Sean's coffee maker that required a modified approach to brew. Then we started our tour heading off to the nearby Bata Shoe Museum, Tita Tere said that Imelda Marcos's shoes were displayed there. But there was a fee required for entry. So we headed off to Casa Loma instead. It was a beautiful old structure, and because of its romantic nature there was a nuptial photoshoot going on. It would have been lovely to get in, but they also required paid entry.

We then went off to St Lawrence Market to locate Churrasco Portuguese Chicken. On the way we saw a park with interesting features: some dog statues surrounding the fountain and they were all spouting water towards the middle, and also, not far from the park was a building with a design of cloth curtains painted on its wall.

The Portuguese Chicken was zesty and tangy with just the right spiciness. My sister also bought some tarts. It was a bit sweet to my liking. We could not finish our orders so we had to have some left overs and we thought about the warning my mom and dad got from their friends who will take us to a feast later for dinner.

We rushed towards Allan's Gardens as recommended by Tita Tere. We walked about seven blocks to ensure that we digest our lunch properly. It was a nice greenhouse filled with specimens of plants from different climates. Then we took a cab to St Rose of Lima Catholic Church, about half an hour away via the highway to attend an anticipated mass, where my mom's friends will meet us.

Mom's friends' daughter, Christa, sang the responsorial psalm beautifully. Louie read some Bible passages.

After the mass we got to meet Portia's kids and the rest of the family. We visited tita Diosy's house and met their amazing cats. Then they took us to Sushi Legend where mom and tita Diosy indiscriminately ordered a dozen of items. Their excuse? The restaurant was 'eat all you can.'

We were so full after the dinner, that we were extremely grateful that we got a free ride direct to the Coach House, otherwise we would have struggled commuting and walking back to it.Read more